THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Green Bay 3,
Southern Indiana 2
@Wright State 4,
Lindenwood 1
Purdue Fort Wayne 3,
@Eastern Illinois 0
@HCU 4, North American 1
@Bradley 4,
Western Illinois 0
@#20 Ohio State 4,
SIUE 0
@Gonzaga 2,
UIW 0
GREEN BAY 3, SOUTHERN INDIANA 2
GREEN BAY, Wis. - University of Southern Indiana Men's Soccer lost in the final four seconds against the University of Wisconsin Green Bay, 3-2, in Green Bay, Wisconsin on Thursday. The Screaming Eagles fell to 0-3 while Green Bay improved to 1-2.
The USI offense came out of the gate hot and took the lead 4:39 into the match off of a goal by freshman midfielder Ahiro Nakamae (Fishers, Indiana). Nakamae was assisted by junior forward Jackson Mitchell (Newburgh, Indiana), allowing the Eagles to take a 1-0 advantage.
The tides turned quickly as Green Bay's offense struck back at 6:24 to tie the match. Unfortunately, the tie would not last long, as a USI error resulted in an own goal giving Green Bay a 2-1 lead 7:51 into the game.
The 2-1 Green Bay lead would last for over thirty minutes until Nakamae found the back of the net at 41:50 for his second goal of the match and his third of the season. The 2-2 tie would remain for the rest of the first half. Through the first half of the match, USI and Green Bay were even with seven shots each.
In the second half, Green Bay's offense took control, eventually scoring the game-winner with four seconds on the clock in its 3-2 win. USI was unable to find its offensive footing throughout the second half, being outshot, 9-1. The Eagles' best scoring opportunity came from junior forward Jaron Frye (Tulsa, Oklahoma), who had a shot on goal that was saved by Green Bay at 62:08.
In goal, sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Klott (St. Charles, Missouri) made five saves and allowed three goals while facing 16 shots.
WRIGHT STATE 4, LINDENWOOD 1
DAYTON, Ohio - Lindenwood men's soccer (0-2-1, 0-0-0 OVC) dropped their first away game of the season to Horizon League opponent Wright State (1-1-0, 0-0-0 HL) by a final score of 4-1. The Lions surrendered four unanswered goals in the match.
Lindenwood's offense delivered nine shots on Thursday including five on goal resulting in the lone goal. Wright State had only two more shots than LU (11) but 10 of those landed on goal resulting in four goals.
The Lions' offense started the night attacking including a shot on goal by Cameron Caldwell in the 13th minute. Lindenwood struck first in the 20th minute with freshman Anel Kafedzic's first goal of his career. He was assisted by Ethan Blake to put LU up 1-0.
Wright State's offense battled back scoring quickly to tie the game at 1-1 during the 29th minute. Jonah Williams for Wright State scored the second goal at the 37th minute to give WSU the 2-1 leading heading into the half.
Lindenwood's offense was held in check during the second half being limited to seven shots with three on goal. Wright State's goal keeper Joel Shaw had three of his four saves come in the second half. Enzo Gil had six saves on the evening in the loss. WSU scored their final two goals during the 73rd and 81st minutes.
PURDUE FORT WAYNE 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 0
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois men's soccer played Purdue Fort Wayne event for the first 72 minutes of action on a hot afternoon at Lakeside Field.
The Mastodons broke through in the 73rd minute with a goal by Seth Mahlmeister.
Purdue Fort Wayne (1-1) tacked on a pair of insurance goals in the final five minutes with Abe Arellano (85th minute) and James Maxwell (89th) adding the final goals.
EIU had ten shots during the match but was unable to put any on goal against Nic Diana as the Panthers fell to 1-2 on the season.
HCU 4, NORTH AMERICAN 1
HOUSTON - Houston Christian University captured its first result of the campaign, ending a three-match homestand with a convincing 4-1 victory over visiting North American University on Thursday evening at Sorrels Field.
The two teams would feel each other out for the first 10 minutes of gametime before the Huskies cracked the scoreboard in the 12th minute. Ethan Giwa-McNeil opened his season account by turning a pretty give from Freddy Ferguson into an easy chippy to the bottom left shelf to put the Huskies out in front one to nil. That would be all the scoring despite HCU peppering the pipes to an 11-2 count over the first 45 minutes.
In the opening stages after intermission the Huskies would double their advantage. Coming on as a second half sub for his first action of the 2024 campaign, D'Alessandro Herrera would get fed a nice ball by Ryan Okerayi just inside the 18-yard box. A nifty one touch was followed with a solid slot just past the keeper for his first goal of the campaign and a 2-0 margin.
NAU would make things interesting near the end of the 72nd minute, as a strong cross to the back post was headed in by Andres Santos past the diving Alex Aitken, giving the Stallions their first tally to draw within one.
That momentum was short-lived indeed, as just 29 seconds later Ferguson found Okerayi on the quick break in the middle of the offensive end. Okerayi wasted no time with a quick touch and blast between the pipes to push HCU's lead back to a pair at the 72:13 mark.
The game would be put on ice moments later, as again it was Giwa-McNeil getting the score with Okerayi providing yet another helper. Okerayi would find Giwa-McNeil in stride with a nice through ball up the left side in front of the HCU bench, and that pass was turned into a nice poke to the bottom left corner for the capper on the 4-1 victory.
HCU would outshoot the Stallions 20-11 on the night, including 12-9 in SOG, while earning a 7-3 advantage in corners as well.
Ethan Giwa-McNeil had two goals on the evening to match his total from last year, coming on three shots on goal. His brace was the second of his career and first since September 5 of 2022, when that brace broke a two-all tie at Cal-Poly and gave HCU a 4-2 win.
Ryan Okerayi put up five points on the night, scoring a goal to go with two assists, matching his total from last season. D'Alessandro Herrera's score was the 10th of his career.
Freddy Ferguson had his first two helpers on the season, and Alex Aitken picked up his first win of the year, stopping eight shots on the night.
NAU got the goal from Santos and an assist from Joseph Figueroa. Gino Burioni made eight saves in taking the loss for the Stallions, now 1-2 on the season.
BRADLEY 4, WESTERN ILLINOIS 0
PEORIA, Ill. - Western Illinois Men's Soccer squared off with in-state rival Bradley on Thursday night, as the Leathernecks were looking for their first win against the Braves since 2015. Bradley denied the Leathernecks the win, taking home a dominant four-nil shutout victory.
Bradley opened the scoring in the 12th minute, taking an early one-nothing lead. Freshman outside back Benjamin Graham was given a yellow card early shortly after the one-nothing lead, and Oscar Olingdahl picked up Western's second yellow of the match in the 29th minute. Western nearly held the one-goal difference until the break, but Bradley broke through again 20 seconds before halftime, taking a two-nothing lead into the break.
Western swapped out goalkeeper Micah Ramirez for Youssou Ouendeno at half-time, but Bradley still scored the same amount of goals in the second half as they did in the first. They nearly added a fifth but Bradley's attacker was ruled offside.
Western Illinois was outshot 10-6 in the match. The Leathernecks were able to use more players in Thursday's match, as Gabriel Velasco, Bruce Harris, August Jacus, and Dayton Strattman all made debuts.
#20 OHIO STATE 4, SIUE 0
COLUMBUS, Ohio - No. 20 Ohio State set the tone with an early strike on its way to a 4-0 win over SIUE Friday in each team's first game at the Wolstein Classic at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
The Cougars slipped to 0-1-1 with the defeat. Ohio State, ranked 20th in the most recent United Soccer Coaches poll, improved to 2-0-1.
Deylen Vellious got the Buckeyes on the board in the 11th minute when he found the back of the net with a low strike. Michael Adedokun made it 2-0 OSU in 27th minute.
The Buckeyes took the 2-0 lead into the break along with an 11-2 advantage in shots.
The Buckeyes' third tally came in the 67th minute when David Ajagbe picked scored with an assist from Vellious. Marko Borkovic closed out the scoring in the 71st minute.
Ohio State outshot SIUE 17-8 in the game. The second half was even 6-6. The Buckeyes put 10 shots on goal compared to two for the Cougars.
Nic Muench paced the SIUE offense with three shots. Wes Gibson finished with a pair of shots. Jake Karolczak and Zach Renz each finished with a shot on goal.
Rob Gjelaj made six saves over the game's first 81-plus minutes. Sophomore Ethan Kornas saw his first career regular season minutes, playing the final 8:23.
Ohio State starting goalkeeper Patrick McLaughlin also played 81:37. He made a single save. The Buckeyes' backup RJ Stoller also made a single save over the final 8:23.
GONZAGA 2, UIW 0
SPOKANE, Wash. - Recap coming soon.